Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 3 December 2015
- Saudi Arabia to propose OPEC cuts ... more
- Citi says China to cut RRR by 250bp, Deposit rate by 50 by end 2016
- Reuters reports British planes have conducted air strikes on Syria
- Big central bank meeting coming up! (Not the one you think) (NZ)
- Implications for the AUD from the trade balance higher deficit
- China data - Caixin Services PMI for November: 51.2 (prior 52.0)
- Japan - Nikkei Services PMI (November): 51.6 (prior 52.2)
- Fonterra says dairy auction price rise gives them confidence on payout forecast
- People's Bank of China yuan reference rate for today: 6.3982
- ECB preview: It's crunch time for the ECB - Who are the council members involved and what have they been saying?
- Option expiries for the US cut today
- Australia October trade balance: -3.305 bn (expected -2.6bn)
- Australia data - HIA new home sales for October: -3.0% m/m (prior -4.0%)
- More on that Goldman Sachs call for a 300 point fall in EUR/USD
- Moody's on Australia: Outlook for regional, local government sector negative
- EUR/USD - Goldman Sachs says its about to fall 300 points due to ECB
- Australia services PMI for November: 48.2 (prior 48.9)
- Fed's Williams - more: Dec. decision not just about rate hike, but path ahead
- ECB preview - Draghi will credibly promise to behave irresponsibly
- Police on the San Bernardino shootings - 14 killed
- Nikkei reports Toyota union to seek 3000 yen base-pay rise in 2016
- More again from Fed's Williams: Markets won't be surprised by first Fed rate hike
- Quick morning thoughts for the AUD from Westpac - targets
- Canadian government officials pushing for higher down payments
- More from Fed s Williams: Fed has got the overall economy as strong as we can get
- Trade ideas thread for Thursday 3 December 2015 (D fer Draghi Day)
- Fed's Williams: Prefers liftoff sooner rather than later
Terrible news out of the US towards the end of the session there with multiple homicides in San Bernardino, another cowardly attack from low life scumbags who ran away to hide after murdering innocent people.
On to the markets.
Tight ranges pretty much across the board today, the upcoming European Central Bank decision and Draghi's press conference cited as a dampening influence.
We had a speech and a Q&A session from the Fed's John Williams (see points, above), but it did not have a big FX impact. Minor Australian data followed (ditto on the FX impact) and then the Australian trade balance data for October which showed a trade deficit growing more quickly than expected.
The AUD dropped toward 0.7280 on the data, stabilised and has subsequently recovered its losses. NZD dipped ever so slightly with the AUD, but positive commentary from Fonterra lent it support and its around session highs as I update (not that its been much of a range admittedly).
Chinese and Japanese service PMIs from Markit caused little in the way of currency response.
EUR traded a few points lower, EUR/USD is down around 25 points and EUr/jpy about 15. USD/JPY meanwhile has ticked up slightly (around 15 points). Cable and USD/CHF are little changed also.
Gold dipped to a new low in Asia and bounced a little from there. Oil is more less sideways on the session.
Regional equities with Shanghai closed for the lunch break:
- Shanghai +0.59%
- Nikkei -0.20%
- HK -0.27%
- ASX -0.57%
Still to come: ECB meeting ...
- ECB preview: It's crunch time for the ECB - Who are the council members involved and what have they been saying?
- Goldman Sachs call for a 300 point fall in EUR/USD
- ECB preview - Draghi will credibly promise to behave irresponsibly
